Under-fire West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has admitted his attacking players have not been up to scratch so far this season.

Whilst most observers would suggest it is in defence where the Hammers have an issue, Bilic has highlighted the attack for criticism.

With Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll out injured, the Hammers have gone with new signings Simone Zaza and Jonathan Calleri but neither have impressed, and against Middlesbrough on Saturday Bilic pushed Michail Antonio up front, and he has now played right-back, right wing and out-and-out striker already this season.

Bilic told the club’s website: “We were not totally happy with the way our strikers had done in the last few games and we were missing that presence and quality up front, so that’s why we opted for Antonio to play there.

“Of course he has played there in his career and he is capable of doing that. He has played as a striker and with his pace and energy we expected him to cause them problems, which is what he did really well in the first half.

“In the second half we wanted to maintain that kind of energy, but to do it on the wing, so we put Zaza up front to add quality without losing what Antonio was doing.”